October 16, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
The oar will remain in Baxter.
For the fifth straight year the Upperman Bees have won “The Battle of Center Hill” after knocking off the DeKalb County Tigers 24-14 in Smithville Friday night. In the process, the Bees snapped the Tigers’ four game winning streak this season and dashed DeKalb County’s hopes of claiming another regular season region championship. Something the Tigers did for the first time in program history last year.
The oar, a trophy instituted a few years ago between these two schools, is affectionately nicknamed “The Battle of Center Hill,” because the teams are on opposite sides of Center Hill Lake. The winner of the annual grudge match gets to keep the oar for a year until the next meeting.
It was also the Tennessee Titans’ high school football game of the week as voted on by the fans with the winning team getting $2,000 and the winning coach being named “Coach of the Week”.
The battle Friday night between DeKalb County and Upperman remained close until late in the fourth period with each team having the lead twice during the game.
DeKalb County scored first on a 40 yard touchdown pass from Quarterback Briz Trapp to Isaac Knowles with 5:45 left in the 1st period. Axel Aranda came on for the extra point and the Tigers led 7-0.
Anthony Maccarone got the Bees on the board with 11:54 left in the 2nd period on the strength of a 24 yard field goal to cut the Tiger lead to 7-3.
Upperman jumped ahead for the first time with 13 seconds remaining in the 3rd period on a 54 yard touchdown pass play from Quarterback Ty Dutchess to Daniel Metzger. Maccarone added the extra point and the Bees led 10-7.
Facing 3rd down and 23, DeKalb County regained the lead with 9:05 left in the 4th period as Briz Trapp found John Ellis for a 27 yard touchdown pass. Aranda booted the extra point and the Tigers were on top 14-10.
The Bees then marched down field and scored on an 18 yard touchdown pass from Dutchess to Jaxson Bush with 5:25 left in the 4th period. Maccarone kicked through the extra point and Upperman took the lead again 17-14.
On their next drive, DeKalb County moved into Upperman territory but a fumble handed the ball back to the Bees and they made the most of it completing a 55 yard drive on a 1 yard touchdown run by Jaxson Rollins with 36 seconds left in the game. Maccarone added the extra point and Upperman went on to claim a 24-14 victory.
DeKalb County will host Goodpasture (2-4) next Friday night, October 22 for their last regular season home game. Senior night kick-off will be at 7 p.m. and WJLE will have LIVE coverage.
Region Standings as of Saturday, October 16:
Upperman: 7-1 (4-0)
Macon County: 6-2 (3-1)
DeKalb County: 5-3 (2-2)
Stone Memorial: 5-3 (2-2)
Cumberland County: 4-4 (1-3)
Livingston Academy: 0-8 (0-4)